Prove It
by TheFineArtOfBoredom
Summary: She thought she would never see him again until, one day, a proposition made by the King of the Southern Isles himself, to send seven of his unmarried sons to her and have only six come back to him. Helsa fic delving into their relationship, how it began and how it develops, etc. Normal Helsa stuff I guess ! Written before the events of Frozen II ! ! Abandoned Book !
1. 1

"Your Majesty, a message from the Southern Isles."

My heart leapt hopefully. I hadn't heard anything from the Southern Isles since Hannah was born, and even then it had been barely anything. I thanked Kai as he shut my office door. That was strange. The door was only ever closed if I had received something of importance.

I hastily ripped open the envelope, hoping this had been from someone I hadn't seen in years. Hoping that maybe he would come back for good this time, instead of just staying for a coronation and it's unfortunate aftermath.

**Dearest Majesty Queen Elsa of Arendelle,**

**It has come to my attention that you have not been wed as of yet. Having knowledge of this news, I would like to present to you seven of my unmarried sons. Their names and ages are listed below:**

**Prince Lars, 40**

**Prince Markus, 35**

**Prince Dominik, 33**

**Prince Rudi, 30**

**Prince Runo, 30**

**Prince Jakob, 29**

**Prince Hans, 28**

**They will stay in your presence from October 10 until November 1 for a thorough evaluation. I hear you host a Hallows Eve ball annually; you shall announce your decision on the night.**

**Regards,**

**His Royal Highness, King Tobian of the Southern Isles**

Hans. That one name made me smile harder than I had ever done since Hannah's birth, but my moment of happiness was quickly perturbed by the fear that had suddenly entered my mind. Anna didn't know the truth yet, and as scary as it would be to tell my sister the full truth of the situation, it would be far less scary than having to try and come up with an explanation as to why I was going to marry the prince who allegedly tried to kill me.


	2. 2

_"What are we here for again?" I asked as the royal ship of Arendelle docked into the port of this strange new kingdom._

_"The King wants to discuss important politics with your mother and me. He may also try to present future suitors to you and your sister," my father replied, resting a steady hand on my shoulder._

_I sighed as the family and I disembarked the ship. I assume my expression spoke disagreement, I didn't want to be married and my sister was only fifteen, but I quickly regained composure as we were greeted by the King, Queen, and their awfully large number of heirs to the throne._

_"I must apologise, King Agnarr, the youngest decided to stay in his room. Too afraid to come down, awfully rude in my opinion. I'm sure you'll meet him during dinner," the King spoke quietly to my father as we began walking towards the castle._

_All the heirs looked similar with their red hair and tall, strong builds, minus one of the younger ones who was blond with a short, stocky build. My mind wandered to what the youngest might look like. Judging from the looks of most of his brothers, I assumed he would probably have red hair and brown eyes. Perhaps also tall and strong, or maybe he was like the odd one and was short and stocky._

_"I'm finished with the rents, Sir," a mildly deep voice spoke from behind me. I turned to see a man, tall and strong with flaming red hair and green eyes. I thought maybe he was the youngest of the bunch, the 13th son, but the King said the youngest was in his room, didn't he?_

_"You're late, Hans," the King growled. The other boys, minus one, snickered._

_"Bet you're gonna get into some serious trouble now, brother," one of the younger boys said, smiling with wicked pleasure._

_"You might as well come late to dinner while you're at it, I doubt you'll get much, there are four new mouths we have to be feeding over the next two months," the King spoke coldly, batting an eye at the prince named Hans before leading us into the castle. I looked back to the young prince as we entered the castle, catching his eye and giving a sympathetic expression. I felt sorry for him. Surely he didn't deserve this treatment._

_That evening he was not at dinner with us and I knew he probably wouldn't be fed until morning if no one stepped in, so I piled up my dinnerplate with seconds and snuck upstairs to find his room. Sneaking away was easier than I would have thought, all the men were in a heated political debate of some sort, and Mom and Anna had retired to bed early, so there was no one to pay attention to me._

_The room finding was a little more difficult. I managed to find a member of the castle staff to ask where I could find the young Prince Hans. She reluctantly informed me of where he stayed, which wasn't even a room, but instead the stables outside. I wondered what he could've done to deserve such poor treatment because from what I had seen so far, he was relatively respectful._

_A pang of fear suddenly rushed through me as I arrived at the stables and the ground below me began to freeze. I quickly walked in to hopefully alleviate whatever fear I had suddenly felt, although I had tripped over the edge of my dress in the process which caused me to make an awful lot of noise, causing me to fear again._

_"Who's there?" The similar deep voice called out, having been alerted of my presence._

_"It's, uh, Princess Elsa," I called back nervously, the sounds of movement becoming noticeably louder until the Prince was in my line of sight. "I thought you would be hungry," I mumbled, holding the plate of food towards him._

_"You shouldn't be here," he spoke quietly, glancing towards the ground, "if my father finds out about what you're doing-"_

_"If your father even tries to lay a hand on me he'll have a war on his hands," I spoke with sudden confidence, "Now, I don't know what you might've done to deserve this treatment, but I don't stand by it. Here, eat."_


	3. 3

_After that night, Hans and I spent almost any moment we could together, talking and getting to know each other day by day. I discovered what he had done that was so bad in the eyes of his father, and it had been getting married two years beforehand to a common woman. When he told me that she had passed away the previous year, I couldn't help but feel angry at the King._

_"He should be trying to help you, not trying to banish you," I said, airing my frustrations._

_"He's never been one to care about me, Elsa, as unfortunate it is to say, I'm completely used to it after almost twenty-one years," Hans sighed, looking out into the distance again at the rising moon, "Your hand's cold."_

_I hadn't even noticed that by this point the glove from one of my hands had been removed and was now being warmed by the hold of the Prince's hands beside me. I had been too focused in my deep-seeded frustration to have realised._

_I panicked, pulling my hand away, which didn't seem to do much because Hans immediately took hold of it again._

_"It's okay," he whispered, "I know already. Why do you think I was looking down the first night you saw me? It was a curious sight to see, ice forming on the ground in the middle of Summer, in the stables no less. I sort of connected the dots after that."_

_"Please don't tell anyone," was all I could say in that moment. Part of me thought I should say something else, but then again, what else could I have said?_

_"I would never. Besides," he began, inching closer to me, green eyes locked with my blue ones, "who would I even have to tell?"_

_Adrenaline was pumping through my veins as I made the decision to follow what he was doing, inching closer and closer until finally my lips felt the soft warmth of his own. I felt a hand wrap around my waist while the other fell lightly on my cheek. Suddenly without control, my lips parted slightly, and from this sudden movement his did the same._

_As the kiss intensified I felt myself falling carefully onto my back and Hans climbing over the top of me. I don't know what had made me agree to this in the first place, part of me wishes I did, but at the same time I wanted to enjoy this moment of spontaneity._

_Suddenly it stopped and I opened my eyes to see Hans staring back at me, looking as though he was struggling to find his voice._

_"Elsa, I love you," he whispered, having found his voice. Those three words took me aback slightly. I hadn't expected them, nor had I expected him to be saying them to me._

_"Prove it," I whispered into his ear, the surprise of the moment rushing away to be replaced with an expectant look from myself._

_Swiftly, he stood and lifted me into his arms, bringing me back to the stables, making sure the coast was clear before laying me down on my back again and undoing his belt that held up his pants. I knew full well what was about to happen to me, to us, but I wasn't scared, which sufficiently surprised me. Maybe that meant I felt the same way about Hans, that I loved him. I couldn't know for sure; I was naive when it came to love because I had never fallen in love before, but I knew the actions of the last minutes had to have meant something, right?_

_Carefully, Hans climbed on top of me again, his belt now lying beside us. I closed my eyes, feeling his hands slip my dress up over my waist before feeling my undergarments being pulled down to my ankles. My bottom half was now fully exposed to the world and I couldn't care less._

_It was a few moments before I felt his hands again, one slipping under my dress to feel my breasts while the other carefully spread my legs in preparation for what would happen next. I let out an unexpected gasp as he entered my body, the pain of my first time being almost unbearable but the pleasure being immeasurable._

_It was slow and careful, I could tell he didn't want me to be in too much pain, which I appreciated greatly. His lips ended up finding their way back to mine, knowing that we were close to the end. He and I both knew we would have to be near silent if we didn't want to be caught. A small sound left me as I felt the explosions from the both of us, after which Hans took his lips from mine._

_We stayed still together in the position we were in, breathing deeply and staring into each other's eyes before I received a quick kiss as he stood, pulling his pants back up and putting his belt back on. I followed, pulling up my undergarments and putting my dress down again._

_He laid beside me, hand trailing to my head to stroke my hair as we began staring at each other once again. He smiled at me, I kissed him in response. I wrapped my arms around his waist while he pulled me closer to him, his head comfortably resting on my own._

_"I love you too," I whispered, feeling my eyes becoming heavy, thinking of the night's events. I was the happiest I had been in ten years and in that moment, I was thankful that it hadn't occurred to me yet that I only had four days left with Hans on the Southern Isles._


	4. 4

_I hadn't ever realised how absolutely boring it was, meeting foreign dignitaries and princes who hoped to win my approval. Once upon a time I wished to be in Mom and Dad's situation, meeting all these new and exciting faces. Maybe I still would be like that if things had been different._

_"Prince Dimitry of Sanemia," Kai announced as a short, middle-aged man made his way towards me. He bowed, I curtseyed. He kissed my gloved hand lightly before walking through to the Dining Hall. I knew the Southern Isles was next on the list. The mere thought of the kingdom upset me. It hadn't dawned on me until recently how mush I missed Hans' presence. I had become so used to it after the last time I was there, especially in those last few days. It was odd, even after three years, only being able to communicate through letter._

_As I saw Kai's finger moving down one on the list, I quickly regained composure and prepared myself to meet the oldest unmarried prince, Prince Markus. I hadn't really gotten to know him well when I was in the Southern Isles, seeing as I spent most of my time with Hans on that trip, but based from assumptions he was probably as much of a misogynistic, rude, manipulative bastard as the rest of them, with the exception of Prince Lars._

_"Prince Hans of the Southern Isles."_

_When he entered the Throne Room I had to bling two, maybe three times, to believe that I was seeing him. He had broadened out a little more since the last time I had seen him, having gained extra muscle from his time served in the navy, but he still had the same flaming red hair and dashing green eyes and the adorable freckles and -_

_"Princess Elsa," he whispered, kissing my gloved hand delicately, "We need to talk after dinner. It's urgent."_

_What he said had been said in a tone I hadn't heard before. I instantaneously began to fear if it had something to do with us, but Hans quickly grabbed a hold of my hands, noticing the sudden chill in the room, signalling to me that we were okay. Then, in complete Hans fashion, he quickly looked to Kai to make sure he wasn't watching us before giving me the first kiss I had received from him in three years._

_It was short and sweet, and he made his way to the Dining Hall immediately after, but I knew that we could make up for the years we hadn't seen each other later on, when the night was a little darker and quieter._

_During dinner there were many attempts from the other princes to win my approval, mostly from Prince Dimitry, which was strange I thought. I couldn't tell if him being unmarried at forty-seven made him desperate, or if he was just attracted to younger women. It was quite entertaining though, to see Hans, who sat beside him, making great attempts to not stab him with a fork every time he made a remark about my beauty._

_After the meal, the princes were sent off one-by-one, A to Z according to Kingdom, just as the had entered, which left Hans and I alone with one another. Almost immediately I took him to the newly decorated office, which would be mine tomorrow, shutting the door behind us as we entered._

_I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to do more than that even, but I could see from the look in his eyes that he was not ready for any of that yet. He had other matters on his mind._

_"The Duke of Weselton is plotting to kill you," he said hastily, "I heard him talking to his guards outside and if he can't kill you or marry you then kill you he'll marry Anna and stage something then."_

_Finally, as I began to process what Hans had just informed me of, he took a breath then held me tightly in his arms._

_"I don't want anything to happen to you, Elsa," he whispered. He couldn't bring himself to speak any louder than that. I could feel him shake slightly in my arms and his face burying deeper into the crook of my neck. He was crying. He was crying out of fear. Fear of losing me, the only person in the world that he loved that reciprocated those feelings._

_"Nothing will happen to me," I said quietly, stroking his hair lightly as he continued to hold me in a tearful embrace, "We just need to think of a plan."_


	5. 5

_"It was part of the plan, Elsa, believe me," Hans spoke heatedly, voice breaking into nothing by the end of the sentence, "I was never and would never actually consider marrying your sister."_

_"But-"_

_"Just listen, please. Do you remember what I told you, two nights ago in your office? 'If he can't kill you or marry you then kill you he'll marry Anna and stage something then.' That's why I pretended to be engaged to your sister, Elsa. After you turned down the dance he set his sights on Anna, not that Anna would fall for him anyway, but I just wanted to be sure that he wouldn't try anything._

_"The chandelier falling on you was purposeful too, but I didn't mean to hurt you. It was either that or one of Weselton's guards shooting you in the heart. I couldn't let that happen to you, Elsa. I couldn't let that happen because I love you."_

_Those three words took me by surprise yet again, just like the first time. Although, this time, Hans had put me through so much pain. I didn't know what to do or what to say, or if I should believe him or if I shouldn't. All I knew was that there was only one way to fix this._

_"Prove it," I whispered, just as I had done years beforehand. Before I knew it, the shackles over my hands were off and I was pinned to the wall, Hans buried deep inside me. The first time it had been slow and easy, I thought it would have been the same, but no. This time it was fast-paced and rough, like he was trying his damn hardest to prove what love he held for me._

_The following hours went by in a blur after that point. The Duke found me out on the fjord and raised his sword to me, than Hans followed suit raising his sword on the Duke, than Anna ran over and saved me from Hans' sword because the Duke had become scared and run off._

_The last I saw of Hans was in a cell, on a ship, heading back to the Southern Isles, because of irrefutable evidence that he had tried to kill the Queen of Arendelle. If only I had said something, he would have stayed, but I was too scared of our secrets being exposed. I was too scared to save him when he had sacrificed so much for me and my protection. I was too scared, and I hated myself for that simple mistake._


	6. 6

"So that means Hannah is actually Hans' daughter then and not some random man's you met at the coronation?" Anna questioned, her voice still conveying a neutral tone after everything I had told her.

"Yes," I replied, my voice barely audible as I began to break down into sobs. I could feel myself tremble, I could feel the ice rapidly sprouting on the floor, I could feel the tears as they leaked from my eyes like a never-ending waterfall of sadness, I could feel Anna's arms around me.

I stood hastily, almost knocking Anna back in the process, and reciprocated the affectionate gesture from my younger sister.

"I miss him," I cried. "I miss him so much, and I'm scared, Anna," I admitted, "I'm scared that he doesn't love me anymore and that I've lost all chances with him because I was stupid and scared four years ago, just like I am now."

"It'll be okay, Elsa," Anna whispered, hand now stroking my hair, "I promise you that he will still love you after what happened. God, you still love him after what he did. Protecting you or not, he still hurt you, but you still love him after all those years. He will do the same. I promise."


	7. 7

The port was freezing under my feet as I nervously paced back and forth. My hands ceased to rest as they constantly played with each other in an unsuccessful attempt to calm me down.

"Elsa, sit, you'll make Kristoffer dizzy if you keep that up," Anna demanded softly, not wanting to wake the on-month old baby carefully cradled in her arms.

"He's asleep," I stated bluntly, continuing to walk up and down before looking out to sea. The ship was only about five to ten minutes from arriving and on it were the seven unmarried sons of the King of the Southern Isles, one of which was my long lost love and father of my child, Prince Hans.

Out of duty, I sat, trying to regain my queenly composure as the ship inched closer and closer to the port. When it arrived, I was greeted first by three awfully spritely children. The eldest was eight, with dark brown hair and green eyes. His name was William and he spoke with a slight lisp because of a missing front tooth. The other two were a set of twins, Ella and Elizabeth, four years old with bright red hair and brown eyes, looking very much like the rest of the family.

It was made clear to me that the twins were the daughters of Prince Lars, the one out of the bunch who had been divorced. The one who had also already secretly found a future wife and was expecting to see her for the first time in months at the Hallows Eve ball.

There was a sudden splash in the water, followed by a group of laughter and a second, much larger splash. Lars and I both turned, having been finished with our conversation, to see the commotion. Anna had even stood to get a better view, and that's when I saw him.

Swiftly and carefully, the youngest prince of the bunch put the boy, William, back onto the port before climbing back up out of the water himself. He looked exactly the same as he did the last time I saw him, although this time soaked with water and a look of fury plastered on his handsome, freckled face.

Within seconds of leaving the water and checking to make sure William was okay, punches were flown directly into the faces of Rudi and Runo, the twin princes.

"Don't you ever lay a hand on my son again!"

Anna looked at me with curiosity upon hearing that, while I looked at her in shock.

"Did he ever tell you that?" Anna asked quietly, almost too afraid to speak.

"No," I said back before turning from the port and leaving. Seven years and he never told me he had a son. Why that hurt me so much I didn't know, but it made me start to wonder if he was keeping any other secrets from me. Important ones, that is.


	8. 8

"Prince Hans, Your Majesty," Kai informed me, letting the prince into my office and closing the door behind him.

"Elsa please let me-" he began timidly.

"Why did you never tell me?" I asked furiously, "Why didn't you tell me you had a son?"

"I didn't want to scare you off when I met you. God, you were eighteen when I met you. You were the first person I ever loved since Olivia killed herself! Do you think I would've wanted to let you go? Or for you to fear me or anything to do with me?"

"I wouldn't have been scared! I would've accepted that and moved on! And, you know what? I don't think you would've cared much for letting me go! You've already been doing a really good job at that!"

"Oh, so I'm the one letting you go, am I?" he questioned, "Let me remind you, dearest Elsa, who it was that let me go the last time I was here. I was shipped back to the Southern Isles, the one place I resent and despise and fear with my whole heart, in a fucking jailcell! And for what? Being an innocent bastard! But did anyone know that? No. You know why that is Elsa?"

Tears. I could feel them threatening to leave my eyes. "Stop," I pleaded desperately, "Please."

"It's because of you!" Hans continued in a rage, ignoring my cries for help, "It's because you were too scared to tell the truth! You were too scared that you would lose everything and everyone you loved because you fell in love with me!"

I didn't know why I had said it, but in that moment I had definitely felt it. I did though, immediately regret saying that I hated him, to his face. I so desperately wanted to take it back but as soon as I screamed those words he was gone and I was crumpled up against the door sobbing and heaving and trembling, until I heard three little knocks.

I opened the door shakily, and in came Hannah, holding out a picture she drew of her and me.

"I drew this for you, Mommy, to make you feel better," she said as I took her in my arms and the picture in my hands. "It'll be okay, Mommy," she smiled, patting the top of my head lightly with her hand. All I could do was hold her and smile and hope that she was right.


	9. 9

"You can't just give up now, Elsa," Anna said as I was about to go to bed. It had been two weeks since the argument, and she was awfully determined to keep me and Hans on good terms with each other, and at first I didn't like it, but now I was grateful for that, "Love, Elsa, is being able to experience all the emotions together, even the negatives, and being able to get through whatever difficulty you're facing.

"I know that hurting someone you love or getting hurt by someone you love is one of the worst pains in the world, I've experienced it so many times, Elsa. But if you can make up for what you've done, or if you can forgive, that's what's important, and I know that whatever life throws at you and Hans, you two can get through that. It's happened before and it can happen again.

"Just promise me, Elsa, that you will try because seven years going down the drain along with your happiness is not something I want to see. I also don't want you marrying an asshole like the rest of them are. Hans cares about you, deeply, probably enough to rival me at this point. I don't want to see that going to waste."

What Anna had said definitely made me think and as much as I tried to sleep off those thoughts, my brain refused to let them go.

It was eleven that night, when I made the decision. Quietly, I opened my door and walked to the East Wing of the castle, where all the brothers were staying. I stopped suddenly in front of Hans' door and thoroughly considered turning back, but I couldn't let myself do that.

Carefully, I twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open. He was sitting on the bed, still wearing his clothes from that day, head resting in his hands, his body shaking ever so slightly.

"What do you want, Elsa?" He said quietly, having either seen the ice on the floor or having felt the chill in the room.

"I wanted to talk," I whispered, trying my best to hold back tears as I shut the door. "I wanted to tell you that I was sorry for everything that I did. I wish that I had said something four years ago and I have beat myself up for it, for not doing that. I missed you and I have missed you so much and it hurts so much," I couldn't help but let tears fall at this point,"And I'm sorry that I told you that I hated you because it's not true, Hans. I love you and my freezing cold heart has loved you for seven long years and I can't help it. I can't help that I fell in love with you."

Silence. He didn't even look at me. I turned to open the door. What was the point anyway? We weren't getting anywhere. He wasn't even willing to talk -

"Prove it," he mumbled, finally turning to face me, "Prove that you love me, Elsa."

Within seconds my nightgown was off and my whole body was exposed, just for him. I had to make this time mean more than the last time and the time before that. Slowly, I stepped over to him before leaning down and allowing my lips to touch his.

I was quick to remove his suit jacket and shirt, then his belt and his pants and his undergarments. As the kiss intensified, I pushed him down hard onto the bed and climbed over top of him, ready to force him inside of me until -

"I have things to apologise for too," he whispered, putting a hold on our kiss and turning so he was now on top of me. I almost screamed as he entered my body, having it happen so unexpectedly, and while all this pleasure and pure ecstasy was taking place, I couldn't help but start crying again.

As soon as we had finished I had my head buried into his chest, sobs continuing to emit from my body as he stroked my hair. I continued trying to apologise, but he refused to let me, shushing me softly every time I tried.

I didn't remember falling asleep, but I awoke the following morning still held tightly in his embrace. He was still asleep when I awoke. I debated on whether I should go back to sleep or watch him as he slept, and enjoy the purest form of joy I think I had ever felt. I decided on the latter, and I couldn't help but carefully trace the freckles dotted on his face with my finger.

"Good morning," he smiled. I jumped, having not expected him to wake so suddenly. "That felt nice," he said, opening his eyes to look at me. I sighed, smiling as I tried to somehow get even closer to him, even though we were already as close to each other as we could be. Anna was right. As painful as it was to be hurt and to hurt someone you loved with all your heart, the forgiveness was worth so much.

"I love you," I whispered, breaking the peaceful silence that had surrounded us.

"I love you too, Elsa."


	10. 10

As I looked out to the crowd of people in the ballroom, I felt nervous. Today was the day. I had to tell the Kingdom that their Queen was marrying an alleged almost murderer and hope that a revolution didn't begin.

"It's okay, Mommy," Hannah comforted, taking notice of my fear. I had been holding onto her the whole evening seeing as she was the only force that could keep me somewhat calm. I knew she wanted to be let down, to play with William and Ella and Elizabeth, but she also knew I needed the comfort during this time, and she was more than happy to help.

"His Royal Highness' of the Southern Isles," Kai announced as the music stopped and the royals entered the room. I looked straight at Hans, hoping for some sort of comfort. He nodded encouragingly, and that's when I began to speak.

"As you all may know, over the last three weeks, these Princes of the Southern Isles have stayed in Arendelle in hopes for one to win my approval," I took a deep breath and Anna grabbed hold of my hand to help calm me a little more before I continued, "I cannot announce my decision until you all know the truth first."

"Seven years ago, when I was eighteen, our family stayed in the Southern Isles for two months over the Sumer. Whilst there I became involved with one of these princes. I didn't see him again until my coronation, four years ago," I could hear gasps and whispers coming from the crowd. They already knew who I was talking about, which meant I only had a small amount of time to prove his innocence, "After the coronation he was sailed back to the Southern Isles, having committed treason. Except, he didn't.

"I made the mistake that day, to not speak the truth of the situation, because I was scared of losing my sister again. I was afraid she would never forgive me. It wasn't until recently, not long before the princes came to stay, when I told her the truth about all that happened, along with informing her about the true father of my daughter," the whispers were getting louder and quicker and filling with tones of surprise and resent. Their Queen had kept a secret from them, I couldn't blame them for how they felt.

"Today I'm making the decision to welcome Prince Hans into our family. I have made that decision not only because I love him, but because he is kind and caring and I know that he will put as much effort in as he can with assisting the ruling of this Kingdom one day. Thank you," the music began again as I finished my speech. I turned to Anna, who was smiling at me, proud of what I had done. I smiled back before turning to look at Hannah, she was smiling too.

"Good job, Mommy," she said, snuggling close to me before looking to the ground. Just after I let Hannah down to the ground, to finally go play with the others, I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist, lifting me and spinning me around.

"Hans!" I giggled, turning to face him.

"I'm proud of you, Elsa," he said, quickly kissing me then pulling me into an embrace. "Dance with me?" He asked.

"Of course, Your Highness."


End file.
